The United Arab Emirates (UAE) may withdraw from a $ 23 billion deal to acquire US $ 21 billion F-35 fighter jets over Washington's demands for Abu Dhabi to distance itself from China. This was reported by the American edition of The Wall Street Journal, citing sources.
Earlier, Bloomberg reported that the United States is putting pressure on the UAE, forcing it to get rid of the equipment and technology of the Chinese company Huawei Technologies, used in the country's information networks within four years. Abu Dhabi, according to sources, insists on a longer period for the phasing out of Chinese products. In addition, the Arab state is urging a South Korean company to provide an alternative to the technology used so far.
According to sources in The Wall Street Journal, the leadership of the emirates considers the conditions set by the United States to be too burdensome. In this regard, representatives of the authorities in Abu Dhabi have sent a letter to the US leadership, which contains a threat to withdraw the UAE from the agreement if the demands of the American side are not withdrawn.
Sources in the publication confirmed the receipt of the letter from the US administration. At the same time, the publication does not rule out the possibility that the deal will not be thwarted before the visit of the UAE delegation to the United States for talks at the Pentagon, scheduled for Wednesday.
Late last year, during Donald Trump's term, the US State Department notified Congress of its intention to formally authorize the sale of up to 50 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighters to the UAE, as well as 18 reconnaissance MQ-9B drones and other advanced weapons systems, worth a total of 23, 37 billion dollars. As noted by The Hill newspaper, the deal was announced after an agreement to fully normalize bilateral relations between Israel and the UAE.
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